True Desire
by Larien Mithrandir
Summary: A dream is a wish your heart makes, and as Sora waits sleeping in his crystal prison, his heart wishes for Kairi.
1. Prologue Sleep

Sora rushed into the room, startled at the stark whiteness. He cast his eyes around the room in wonder, amazed at the drawings that seemed so familiar. In fact, they were drawings of recent events in his young life. There he was, standing with Donald and Goofy, smiling broadly. And again, on another wall, he was there, running up a set of stairs, his two newest friends in tow. Several other events were depicted, but he could feel that he was being watched.

The crystal portals to his soul finally came to rest on a platinum blonde girl in a white dress and white sandals. She sat in a white chair with a sketch pad on her lap, pencil poised over the paper. She stared back at the brown-haired boy with eyes the color of the ocean.

Suddenly, crystal pieces sprung from the ground around Sora's feet, encasing him in a crystal egg. He stared out at the girl. Her lips moved, but he couldn't hear the words. She reminded him of a girl he once knew. Unfortunately, he could not recall her name.

His eyelids drooped heavily as sleep overtook him. He could feel himself falling. He did nothing to stop the darkness from overtaking him. It took him farther and farther into its cold embrace, gently soothing him with familiarity. He knew this place. It existed in the far reaches of his memory. He could hear the ocean, smell the salt, feel the warm sand beneath him.

And there she stood, glowing with a radiance he'd only dreamt of. Her back was to him, but he knew who this auburn goddess was.

"Kairi…"


	2. Chalk Scribbles

"Wake up, you lazy bum!" called the innocent voice. "Huh?" Sora questioned groggily. "I said, 'Wake up, you lazy bum!'" the auburn girl repeated. She smiled down into his face and offered her hand. He accepted it and allowed her to pull him to his feet.

"I thought you'd sleep forever if I didn't wake you, Sora," she said laughingly as she turned around and began walking. Sora stared after her for a minute, and then ran to catch up with her. As he caught up, he noticed how the sun played on her short hair, turning the silken strands into a small cascade of fire. He almost reached out to touch to see if it would really burn him.

"So, where are we going, Kairi?" Sora asked, placing his hands in his pockets. "To the cave, silly! Don't you remember?" she replied, turning and walking backwards so she could watch him. He stared back at her, noting her ocean-blue eyes and the way they danced with merriment. Next, he took note of her smile and the way it brought her face to life. He wondered about her lips and if they were really as soft as he imagined.

The pair reached the small cave and Sora held back the vines to allow Kairi entrance into its dark recesses. He followed her in and looked around in wonder. The cave was filled with white chalk drawings, sketched out by the young hands of Kairi, himself, and their friend Riku. _I wonder where Riku is today_, Sora thought to himself.

The chalk drawings ranged from all manner of subjects. On one rock, a crude representation of their school teacher was etched, disfigured with sharp teeth and eyes of fire. On another surface was a depiction of the three friends setting sail on a raft. That had been their plan, before the night the Darkness took Destiny Islands.

Sora's eyes finally came to rest on a picture he and Kairi had worked on together one afternoon. He had drawn her angelic face, from a side view, laughing. She had drawn his face, looking back at hers and laughing as well. Years later, Sora had visited the cave alone, after learning about the Paupu fruit, and drawn his hand holding the star-shaped fruit towards Kairi. However, a new element had been added to the white sketch. Kairi's hand was now holding another Paupu towards himself. When had Kairi drawn this? Or had she?

The brown-haired boy turned around and begin to ask, "Kairi, when did you—Huh?" He noticed that the auburn girl was no longer in the cave with him. "Kairi? Kairi!" he called. He stood and ran to the cave's entrance, only to find that he was no longer on Destiny Islands.

Sora now found himself standing in a dank tunnel, constructed of huge boulders. It was dimly lit and an inch of water covered the floor. In the distance, he saw her, his beautiful goddess, again with her back to him.

"KAIRI!" he yelled. As she turned around to face him, she faded away.


	3. Sail Away

Sora stood in the tunnel, staring at the empty space where Kairi had stood. Suddenly, a playful giggle seemed to come from all around him. "It would've been great, Sora, if the two of us had sailed off that afternoon, without Riku." Sora looked all around him, but could not locate the source of the voice he cherished.

"Try walking forward! Walk to where I was standing!" she called, giggling, "Kairi, what are you playing at?" Sora called back. "Just do it!" came the reply. Sora did as he was commanded tentatively at first, and then picked up speed until he was trotting. As he neared the spot where the redhead had vanished, he felt a hand grab his right hand.

As quickly as Kairi had vanished, the tunnel vanished, only to be replaced by the open ocean. Sora found Kairi sitting beside him on the raft they had built along with Riku. The silver-haired boy was still nowhere to be found.

Sora then realized he was still holding on to Kairi's hand. He blushed and chuckled nervously as he tried to pull away, but Kairi only clasped his hand tighter. She looked him in the eyes and, blushing herself, said, "I—I like holding your hand. It's comforting." Sora's face turned a much deeper shade of red and he replied, "Yeah, it is."

The rocking of the ocean soothed the pair as they floated towards the horizon and the setting sun. Kairi soon laid her head on Sora's shoulder and closed her eyes. "Dreams are nice. I wish this one could last forever. I want to stay in this dream with you, Sora. But someday soon, you're going to wake up," Kairi whispered softly. Sora could hear the tears in her voice. "I just have this feeling that soon I'll forget who you are. I don't want to forget you, Sora."

The brown-haired boy put his arms around the redhead and hugged her close. "You won't forget me, Kairi. I'll be right here with you," he said, placing a kiss on the top of her head. Kairi looked up at him, bewildered. "How can you say that?! You're not _me_, Sora! You don't know what I'll remember and what I'll forget! And furthermore, you're not psychic! You can't know that for sure!" she screamed.

"Love never forgets," Sora replied, planting a kiss on the soft, luscious lips he'd been longing to feel for so long…


	4. Broken Friendship

**A/N: **Yeah, I've not been very timely with writing these chapters. I've been working lately, and it's exhausting. I've also been dealing with a bit of a writer's block. I'll try my best to clear it up and write more to this story. I'm also working on making longer chapters, but…Well, you see how that's gone…Anyways, enjoy!

~Larien~

Kairi stared back into Sora's crystal eyes. "Y-you…You kissed me!" she exclaimed, touching her lips. Tears flooded out of her eyes and down her cheeks. It broke Sora's heart to see her crying. "Kairi, don't cry. Everything will be okay," he said, brushing the tears away.

The redhead pushed him away angrily and screamed, "No it won't! We can't ever be the same again! If we date and then break up, we can't be friends again! Everything has changed!" She was crying uncontrollably now, her shoulders shaking and her chest heaving. Sora felt the hot sting of tears on his own cheeks now. Why was she so hurt by that innocent kiss? The entire time he'd been with her, he thought she had felt the same way about him as he did about her. "Kairi, I—" "Just shut up, Sora! You broke it! You broke our friendship and it can't be fixed!"

The blue-eyed boy sat there on the raft in the middle of the ocean feeling numb. He could only sit and stare as the girl he loved gradually began to melt into a puddle of tears and blend with the salty ocean. Wait—MELT?! Humans couldn't melt into puddles of tears and mix themselves into the ocean! Maybe his eyes were playing tricks on him and in reality Kairi was falling into the watery abyss and drowning.

"Kairi!" Sora called. "Kairi, hang on! I'll save you!"

"She's not the one who needs saving," growled a masculine voice from behind Sora. Two strong hands pushed him hard over the edge of the raft. As Sora sank through the water, he made out the face of his other friend, Riku. The silver-haired boy scowled back at him. _What did I do?_ Sora wondered to himself.

Riku suddenly dove into the water after Sora, shooting his hand to the brown-haired boy's throat. "Like she said, you broke our friendship. It can't be fixed. You can't save her," Riku snarled. "Now, succumb to the darkness, Sora!" Riku's hand closed tighter around Sora's throat, cutting off his ability to breathe.

Before Sora lost consciousness, he heard Riku whisper, "Kairi is mine, Sora. Stay away from her."


	5. Epilogue Wake Up

**A/N:** So, I let this project die without giving it closure. I'm really sorry, everyone! I've made my final decision to close it. This is the final chapter. I know, so sad! But I'm certainly thankful for everyone who read and reviewed it!! And so, with a heavy heart, I write the final chapter of "True Desire". Read, review, and enjoy.

~Larien~

Sora peered out at the clear blue waves of the ocean. His friends were out there somewhere in the abyss. The brunette pocketed his treasure and dove into the waters. "I promised I would find you, Kairi, Riku. I won't give up until I make good on that promise!" he gritted. He swam on for what felt like miles with no luck. His arms were aching, his lungs were burning, and his legs felt like cinderblocks were attached to them. He could go on no further. It was when he rose to the surface and gulped in large amounts of air that he heard it.

"Sora!" a raspy voice called faintly. Sora turned to look in the direction he thought the voice had come from, but he could see no one.

"Sora!" another, deeper voice called. Sora looked again to find no one. Suddenly, a giant wave swallowed him up. As he broke free of the water, gasping and sputtering, he saw the white room again. The crystal egg had been opened and there before him stood Donald and Goofy, ready to save the worlds again.


End file.
